A variety of products are commonly shipped in large bulk containers from a manufacturing or distribution facility to a point where the product is to be used or sold. Many of these containers are made of corrugated paperboard and may exceed four feet in length and three feet in height, and when filled with product can weigh 400 pounds or more. Handling of such containers is understandably difficult and generally requires the use of a hand jack or forklift or the like to move the filled container.
To facilitate use of a hand jack or forklift and to prevent damage to the container and its contents, it is generally necessary to place the filled container on a pallet for shipping and handling. When the container reaches its destination, a hand jack or pallet or other suitable tool is used to remove the filled container from the transport vehicle and set it down at that location for unpacking or to move it to another location, e.g. into an office or store, for unpacking.
Wheeled dollies are available for moving large objects around, and are frequently used to move large containers from a loading dock, for example, to an interior location where the container is to be unpacked. One type of dolly in common use comprises a simple platform with casters at its corners. To use this dolly, either multiple persons are required in order to lift the filled container onto the dolly, with the attendant risk of injury, or a hand jack or forklift would need to be used to lift the filled container onto the dolly.
Another commercially available dolly is sold by Northern Tool+Equipment under the name Industrial Furniture and Crate Mover. This dolly is in two parts that are engaged with opposite sides of a container and can be used to raise the container up to 11.5 inches and lower it back to the floor. This dolly eliminates the need for use of a hand jack or forklift or for persons to lift the filled. However, it is generally desirable to off-load the transport vehicle, i.e. a truck or the like, quickly and to move product into a building as a steady stream. Consequently, many of these dollies would be needed at each job site, making them cost prohibitive.
Office furniture manufacturers typically use large containers to ship finished goods into environments without using material handling equipment such as hand jacks and forklifts. Containers currently used for this purpose generally have a length of 53 inches, a width of 32 inches, and a height of 35 inches. The 32 inch width allows access through all commercial doors. When the container reaches the site where the finished goods are to be used, the installation company removes all packaging from the container and places the finished goods in an empty container sitting on a “skateboard dolly”. The repackaged container resting on the dolly is then moved into the office or other facility, where the goods are again unpackaged. The repacking and unpacking steps increase the labor and cost associated with delivery of the goods to the desired site.
Further, manufacturers of tool boxes, for example, typically ship the tool boxes on wood pallets, and retailers are required to lift or slide the tool boxes off of the pallets. This exposes personnel to injury and exposes the retailer to worker's compensation and liability issues.
Some products, including rugs, are commonly placed on a pallet and shipped to a retail establishment. The doors leading from the receiving dock to the store are 36 inch wide commercial doors. In accordance with current practice, store personnel remove the product from the pallet one item at a time and transport each item from the dock to the store shelf.
Applicant is not aware of any corrugated design or concept that eliminates the need for a pallet and/or material handling equipment, that is sized to fit through all commercial service doors, and that when opened automatically lowers to the floor for easy unpacking or to a dolly for quick transport into a building.
Accordingly, there is need for a bulk container that does not require the use of a pallet or material handling equipment during shipping or for moving the container from a transport vehicle into a building, that is constructed so that a dolly can be positioned beneath it without first lifting it, that lowers automatically to the floor or to a dolly when it is opened, and that can go directly into a building without unpacking it, thereby eliminating the repacking step or the need to unpack the container and carry individual items into a building.